unconformable
Americanadjective
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not conformable; not conforming.
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Geology. indicating discontinuity of any type in a stratigraphic sequence.
adjective
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not conformable or conforming
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(of rock strata) consisting of a series of younger strata that do not succeed the underlying older rocks in age or in parallel position, as a result of a long period of erosion or nondeposition
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Etymology
Origin of unconformable
First recorded in 1585–95; un- 1 + conformable
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
I’m always going to talk about what makes people unconformable.
From Los Angeles Times • Feb. 20, 2025
It is critical at a time of public health crisis to be aware of the line between panic and preparation, to speak tough and unconformable truths without being alarmist.
From Washington Times • Mar. 9, 2020
This series, about 20,000 feet in thickness, is, as before stated, unconformable to that last mentioned; it consists in great part of gneiss of a reddish tint with orthoclase feldspar.
From The Student's Elements of Geology by Lyell, Charles, Sir
But some of these same porphyries are partially unconformable, as b, and may lead us to suspect that the others also, notwithstanding their appearance of interstratification, have been forcibly injected.
From The Student's Elements of Geology by Lyell, Charles, Sir
Often the earth movements to which the uplift or depression was due involved tilting or folding of the earlier strata, so that the strata are now nonparallel as well as unconformable.
From The Elements of Geology by Norton, William Harmon
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
